How did paper-cutting originate?

Paper cutting is a kind of folk handicraft art with a long history in China, which reflects the ancient history and culture of China, and is one of the most characteristic representatives of handicraft art in China.

Chinese paper-cutting origin

Legend has it that Chinese paper-cutting originated from the ancient people's activities of ancestor worship and praying to the gods, and since then, it has been rooted in the profound Chinese traditional culture. With a history of more than 2,000 years, paper-cutting has condensed the traditional concepts of Han culture and intertwined with other arts to convey ancient civilization. The art of paper-cutting is an important part of Chinese culture, epitomizing the moral beliefs of a nation and the inheritance of a folk culture.

Chinese paper-cutting craft has its unique formation and development process. It is said that the earliest art of paper-cutting appeared in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods in the 3rd century BC. At that time, people made use of all kinds of sheet materials, through carving, skeletonizing, ticking, carving, cutting and other hollow carving techniques, such as gold foil, leather, silk, leaves and other materials, cutting patterns, made of a variety of handicrafts, which is the so-called early paper-cutting art.

The Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, there is no paper, so the so-called paper-cutting handmade crafts at that time is only to lay the foundation for the emergence of the real paper-cutting crafts. And the real meaning of the development of paper-cutting handicraft art, it is from the emergence of paper only began. During the Han Dynasty, paper-making was invented, and the invention of paper really contributed to the emergence, development and popularization of the art of paper-cutting.

The Tang Dynasty, the folk began to popularize the custom of paper-cutting to invoke the soul, which prompted the art of paper-cutting began to enter the big development. From the unearthed artifacts can be seen into, then the level of paper-cutting skills has been quite high, paper-cutting picture composition is complete, delicate and exquisite. In addition, during the Tang Dynasty, people also used paper cuttings to make printing plates, and thick paper was carved to make leakage printing plates, and then the dye was leaked onto the cloth to create beautiful patterns.

During the Song Dynasty, the papermaking industry became more and more mature, which provided conditions for the popularization and application of paper cutting. Song Dynasty people use paper-cutting for ceramic patterns, through glazing, firing to make ceramics more beautiful; folk draw on the form of paper-cutting, animal skin made of shadow play figures; and the Song Dynasty appeared scraping the pulp printing, its pattern is the use of paper-cutting techniques, there is a yin and yang carve the difference between the long line to be cut off, to the point of the real and imaginary.

Ming and Qing dynasties, paper-cutting techniques to maturity, and reached its heyday. At this time the paper-cutting process is more widely used, such as folk lanterns of flowers, fan decorations, embroidery patterns, etc., are the use of paper-cutting as a decoration and then processed. At that time, the folk more people are paper cutting as a home decoration, used to beautify the home, such as window.

The art of paper-cutting has a long history and has been widely described in the writings of writers and writers throughout the ages, such as Cui Daorong in the Tang Dynasty, "I want to cut the word Yichun, the spring cold people scissors," where Yichun refers to the paper-cutting, as well as Li Shangyin in the Tang Dynasty, "Skeleton gold as a victory for the spread of the Jing customs, color cutting for people up Jin style! ", which cut the color that is paper-cutting, you can see, that time the art of paper-cutting is quite a cultural connotation.